THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has remanded the chief executive officer of Menteri Besar Kedah Incorporated (MBI) and a company director to assist in investigations into allegations of corruption and power abuse in the rare earths mining sector in the state, involving bribes exceeding RM13 million.

A MACC source said the remand orders were issued for three days, until July 21, by magistrates Wan Shahida Abd Rahim at the Alor Star magistrates’ court and Norsyakirah Che Hashim at the Shah Alam magistrates’ court respectively.

“The suspects, aged 63 and 40, were arrested on Tuesday afternoon in Alor Star and Kuala Lumpur,” the source told The Malaysian Insight.

According to the source, the arrest of the two individuals was the result of an investigation into illegal mining activities carried out by a company that received protection from certain authorities since 2020.

The source also said the investigation unearthed several payments suspected to involve bribery of more than RM13 million paid by the company to certain individuals from the local authorities as a kickback to keep the illegal mining activity running between 2020 and 2023.

“The company owned by the woman who was remanded is believed to have received approval to carry out the development of cloned rubber plantations (TLC) in two compartments in Kedah since 2016.

“The project was to replant cloned rubber trees in the logging areas involved,” he said.

The source added that in 2020, the same company submitted an application to the Kedah government to carry out the mining of rare earth elements (REE) in the same compartments.

However, to date no approval has been given by the state government regarding the company’s application to carry out mining.

Meanwhile, MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki confirmed the arrests and said the case is being investigated under sections 17 and 23 of the MACC Act 2009.

Yesterday, the anti-graft agency said it had opened several investigation papers on malpractice and power abuse by Menteri Besar Kedah Inc in relation to REE mining.

MACC initiated investigations after receiving complaints from several civil society groups, including Gerakan Anti-Sanusi, in March 2023.

It said residents in the Bukit Enggang, Sik area also filed complaints regarding large-scale illegal mining taking place before they were silenced by local authorities.

In January 2023, Kedah Umno urged MACC to investigate and reveal the results of the investigation on whether there was political interference in the issue of REE theft which caused huge losses to the country. – July 19, 2023.